Items
topic_interest is exactly
borders
-
2020-07-30
satirical social commentary on state border closures and restrictions.
This satirical article by the Betoota Advocate is a social commentary on varying experiences of the coronavirus pandemic in different Australian states, specifically Victoria and Queensland, which speaks to my own experiences as someone who has lived in both states during Melbourne's second lockdown from July. The article mentions the general indifference or lack of sympathy towards Victorians, as NewsCorp and the general public have seen the second wave of cases in the southern state as being their own fault. This is something I noticed upon my return to Queensland in August, where the general rhetoric surrounding Victoria and their Premier Daniel Andrews' handling of the high number of cases in the state tended to be divisive. I had never heard of the term 'Dictator Dan' before returning to Queensland and people I knew were calling Victorians 'Mexicans', which I put down to the monopolisation that Murdoch media has over Queensland news. I saw these sentiments turn to sympathy as stage 4 lockdown set in, as Queenslanders realised the negative effects lockdown was having on Victorians. This also differed from the indifference I noticed when I first came back to Queensland, where most people seemed to have forgotten what lockdown was like and were living like everything was back-to-normal. As someone who experienced both lockdowns in Melbourne, as well as relatively normal life in Queensland, I definitely did not take the ability to travel, go out and see friends and family for granted, whilst also retaining deep sympathy towards everyone still in lockdown in Melbourne (which included many of my friends and some family). HIST30060. -
2020-07-17
Blue sky from drive in regional Victoria
HIST30060 This photo was taken at a rest stop i stopped at when I drove from Melbourne to Wodonga to pick up my mum, during the start of our second quarantine (in July). My mum, who had spent the past year living in the South of France, had been completing her mandatory quarantine in a hotel in Sydney for the past two weeks, and I offered to drive up to pick her up. However, due to the reintroduction of restrictions and the border closure between Victoria and New South Wales, I was unable to drive all the way to Sydney. To make up for this, she took the train from Sydney to Wodonga, where I then picked her up. I was very concerned with my drive, as I was unsure with the new restrictions if I would be able to drive from Metro Melbourne to the border, however, as this fell under compassionate reasons, one of the 4 reasons you were able to travel under those restrictions, I was able to complete my journey, and reunite with my mum who I had not seen in over a year. -
2020-03-18
Cancelled Flights
This was a photo I took of the flight departures board at Heathrow Airport on the 18th March, as I waited for my flight home to Melbourne, Australia. It shows a crazy number of flights being cancelled, most of them, from what I could gather, with very little notice to the passengers. This photo sums up just how chaotic and stressful it was trying to get home during COVID border closures. Things were changing so rapidly that your flight could quite literally get cancelled at the last minute, and I remember worrying that my flight would as well. -
2020-03-18
Farewell to Edinburgh
I was on exchange in Edinburgh in the first half of 2020, and was forced to return home to Melbourne 3 months early. This was an incredibly sad and confusing time, where so many of my plans and dreams for the rest of exchange were scuppered. Things moved at a breakneck pace. My first exchange friend decided to leave Edinburgh on the 12th March, and by the 18th March I was flying home to Melbourne, having made dozens of rushed goodbyes in the previous few days. This object is a farewell post I made on Instagram, with 10 photos with my friends in Edinburgh. It sums up the mixed emotions I felt in those days - sadness, fondness, nostalgia, gratitude. -
2020-03-13
Plans Drastically Changed
I was on exchange in Edinburgh in the first half of 2020, and due to return to Melbourne at the end of June. As borders began to close and Australian government travel advice changed, it became apparent that I'd have to return home some months early. This text exchange with my mother is the first time I flagged my intention to leave early, and captures the rapid pace at which events and plans were changing. HIST30060 -
2020-03-13
The First Bomb Dropped
I was on exchange in Edinburgh in the first half of 2020, and was forced to return home early because of COVID-19. These messages show 3 of my friends announcing in a Facebook group chat that they were heading home to Austria, which came as a huge surprise to the rest of us in the group. This was a sad, confusing, disorienting moment, which these messages demonstrate. HIST30060